Condoleezza Rice Defends Alaska Senate Candidate in Crossroads Ad

The former secretary of state makes her first endorsement of the 2014 election cycle.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice(STAN HONDA/AFP/GettyImages)

American Crossroads is bringing on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to aid an Alaskan Senate candidate who has recently come under fire from Democrats.

Rice appears in a new 30-second TV ad from the Karl Rove-founded super PAC praising Republican Dan Sullivan for his work in the Bush administration, and defends him from attacks on his Alaskan residency from a group supporting Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. "Remember that serving our country required some time in our capital," Rice says in the Crossroads spot, which has $170,000 behind it, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The move comes a week after Put Alaska First PAC, the pro-Begich super PAC, launched a TV ad noting that Sullivan purchased a nonresidential fishing license in 2009. The group also aired an ad in February highlighting that the Republican primary front-runner benefited from a Maryland tax credit while voting in Alaska, and that he was born and raised in Ohio. While serving in the White House from 2002-04 and the State Department from 2006-09, Sullivan lived in Bethesda, Md., but still owned a home in Anchorage.

Sullivan, a former Alaska attorney general, appears to be the favorite of the GOP establishment in the August 19 primary and received an endorsement from Club for Growth earlier this month in a race that could determine which party controls the Senate in 2015.

American Crossroads, one of the biggest spenders in the 2012 elections, has now intervened in three Senate races this cycle, as well as the special election in Florida's 13th congressional district. The group ran a TV ad attacking Democratic Sen. John Walsh in Montana in February, and its nonprofit arm, Crossroads GPS, went on air in New Hampshire last week, criticizing Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's support of Obamacare. American Crossroads's most recent FEC filing shows it raised $257,000 in February and had $1.8 million cash on hand.

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Rice has shown she is willing to do her part to help the GOP's efforts to retake the Senate and hold the House this year. She is also slated to headline an NRCC dinner on Wednesday.

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